Most of the stories in Johnny Compton’s Midnight Somewhere were published before in magazines, anthologies, or podcasts, and my guess is his story was one of the darkest, bleakest, and/or saddest of the lot because these were bleak.
I expected Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester to be feminist and witchy, which it was. I did not expect it to be legitimately scary and somewhat gruesome, nor did I expect it to be a virtual treatise for smashing the patriarchy, but here we are, and I am here for it.
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas is an engaging dark academia novel about a college that cares so much about the sanctity of its students’ education that tuition, room, board - even clothes, toiletries, and alcohol - are free. What’s more, they ensure the students are free from distraction by not allowing them to leave campus, send or receive communications, or have access to personal entertainment like radio, tv, iPods, etc. for the three years it takes to complete the curriculum.
The Storm by Rachel Hawkins is a gothic murder mystery thriller and a perfect escapist read. Populated with strong and snarky female characters, the fictional St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama has stories to tell.
The Curse of the Cole Women by Marielle Johnson follows generations of Cole Women on Juniper Island off the New Hampshire coast whose lineage has an unusual curse thanks to an ancestor who was branded as a witch.
An unknown assailant spikes a family's Christmas punch with a military-grade drug, leaving them fighting to survive the night.
On the anniversary of Jacob Marley's death, his business partner Ebenezer Scrooge finds unwelcome company in the form of three spirits from Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come.
After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.
Christmas break, 1971. Samantha and Clara, two students who are staying behind for the holidays at their boarding school, must survive the night after the arrival of uninvited visitors.
A botched Christmas Eve robbery leads down a destructive path for a police officer reconnecting with his estranged mother, a coming-apart-at-the-seams amateur photographer, his vindictive and murderous fiancee, her secret lover and a strung-out mall Santa...as they all converge in one explosive and deadly night.
The 2026 Women's Writing Symposium (presented by "Scares That Care!") is a two-day event for women in the speculative fiction field.
